Krishna & Tharoor asked to vacate 5-star suites

New Delhi, Sep 8: Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee has directed SM Krishna and Shashi Tharoor to vacate their five-star suites and move to government accommodation.

The external affairs ministers have been staying in five-star hotels in the absence of the official accommodation for about three months now.

While SM Krishna was staying at ITC Maurya, Shashi Tharoor was staying at Taj Mahal Hotel. The ministers are expected to move to the Hyderabad house where the Ministry of External Affairs has a guest block.

"I have requested both the ministers to vacate the hotel rooms and go to their respective Bhavans where they have come from, where they have been elected", said Pranab Mukherjee.

This comes as part of the government's austerity drive amid the drought and spiralling prices.

Earlier, Congress leaders were asked to give up 20 per cent of their salaries to fight the drought crisis.